Two women were arrested Thursday in connection with a shooting on Canal Street in downtown New Orleans that wounded another woman, police said.

Police said Niya Harris, 21, and her girlfriend, Sade Bardell, 21, were in an argument around 7:45 p.m. Wednesday (June 18) with the victim and several of the victim's friends in the bustling 800 block of Canal Street, near Bourbon Street.

During the argument, police said, Harris brandished a handgun, which Bardell took and began waving around.

Sade Bardell

The crowd moved and Harris took the gun back, made threatening statements and began shooting in the direction of the victim, striking her once, police said.

Witnesses confirmed the identities of both women, police said. Harris was booked with aggravated battery and Bardell was booked with three counts of aggravated assault and one count of principal to aggravated battery, records show.

Shortly after the shooting, a 19-year-old woman who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation said she was with the victim. She said they were on a double date and had just finished eating dinner when the argument started. She said she didn't know what sparked the altercation, but she didn't believe the two women were friends because "a friend wouldn't shoot another friend."

A witness, Eric Cho, said he was across the street when the shots rang out in front of IHOP. He said he saw a girl holding a gun that was "too big for her to carry concealed," and may have been given to her by a male friend. His brother called police.

"We hit the pavement seconds later," Cho wrote in an email. "It looked like a typical teenage cat fight until the gun shots. It escalated really quickly."

Wednesday's victim, who police said was in stable condition, was the third person wounded in a daytime shooting on Canal Street since March 25. That afternoon, police say, two brothers -- Terry Carter, 24, and Terrance Carter, 22 - shot and wounded a 19-year-old man near Canal and Rampart during an apparent drug deal.

Then last month, on May 17, an 18-year-old woman was wounded by gunfire that erupted during a large gathering of teenagers in the 700 block of Canal, near Bourbon Street, for what was promoted on social media as "Canal Day." Police have not announced any arrests in that shooting.